Silver Maple

Acer saccharinum

Aceraceae (Maple Family)

▲▼ mature trees

▲▼ fall color

▲▼ leaves showing much lighter leaf undersides

▲ leaves and twig

▲ bark and trunk

▲▼ many trees had moderate to severe damage after severe ice storm in Springfield, MO in 2007

Location on campus:  on Kings St., just south of Grand

Acer saccharinum:  Silver Maple

• Leaves opposite, deciduous, simple, palmately 5-lobed, with deep lobes and more serrations along leaf margins; leaves 3-6” long and wide; bright green above and silvery beneath; sometimes have good yellow fall color, otherwise, leaves just turn brown
• Stems very similar to red maple, except have bad odor when crushed
• Bark is smooth gray when young, becoming dark gray and scaly with age
• Grows 50-70 feet tall and wide, sometimes wider, but crown usually slightly more narrow than wide (upright oval crown)
• Prefers full sun and moist, well-drained soils, but very soil tolerant and will grow almost anywhere; natural habit is sandy, loamy floodplain soils where it can grow quite large, fast
• Wood is weak and prone to decay if damaged, and is often injured in ice or wind storms
• Fast growth rate, native to Missouri
• Once widely used in landscaping, now mostly used in reforestation of rivers, stream areas
• Is one of the “soft maples,” along with red maple (based on wood strength)
• Similar to Acer rubrum (Red Maple) - except red maple usually has predominantly three-lobed to  five-lobed leaves, while silver maple leaves are 5-7 lobed
• Acer x freemanii:  Freeman Maple, Autumn Blaze maple
  • A hybrid between red maple and silver maple
  • Has fast growth rate, but slightly harder wood than silver maple
  • Leaf appearance is more deeply lobed than red maple, and not as deeply lobed as silver maple
  • Has brilliant red-orange fall color (‘Autumn Blaze’ cultivar) that is fairly uniform at various sites